In 2004, a beer drinking adventure throughout Belgium inspired us to create a Flanders Style Oud Bruin. The quest to share the beauty and deliciousness of Flemish brown sours started off by filling our oak barrels with ale in July of 2008. After 529 days of barrel aging with lactobacillius, pedioccacus and wild yeast, we then kept with tradition by blending aged sour beer with the malty sweetness of a younger beer. 529 is re-fermented in the bottle with champagne yeast, so please pour slowly and enjoy.

Got from Ummagum as part of our back and forth shipments- many thanks! Poured from a 750ml corked and caged bottle into a tulip glass. No dating info on the bottle but did a little research and found that it was a 2/10 limited release. It was a dark reddish brown color with excellent carb streams. It had a fair sized fizzy tan head that settled into a good collar and foam cap that was continually fed by the streams. Good sheeting that slowly slides back into the glass. Some sticking.

The aroma was outstanding. Funky, vinegary tart, sour cherries and sweet malt. So sour that it curls the nose hairs - hell yeah! One of the best smelling oud bruins that I've had. Definitely brings the sour and funk. Very reminiscent of the better AmWildAles out there. The taste was just as good as the aroma and more than delivered on the sour aroma promise. Tart and sour from the start and only lets up after the finish. Enough of the malt and fruit flavors to give a great balance and not make it too sour and tart. Really enjoyed this one. Mouthfeel was full with tongue shredding carbonation (good thing in my opinion in this style). Bit of a dry finish and aftertaste.

Overall, an exceptional Oud Bruin that I most highly recommend if you can find it. You always hear that Utah is a beer desert with the beer laws,etc but this blows that perception away. Hell it makes me want to do a road trip and soon! Excellent beer and look forward to the other Squatters brew that he sent me. Not available here in TX - got from Matt. Rotation - if here and not a limited release, it would be in the sour rotation as a regular. As is, I'll need to get some more shipped before they sell out. [R;Y;ship]

Corked and Caged 750ml from the brewpub in Salt Lake City, $18. Barrel aged for 529 (Hence the name) days with Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and wild yeast, then refermented in the bottle with champagne yeast.

A: Rich amber in color with some nice orange/red hints to it, off white head of about 1/4 an inch. Fairly cloudy and a few chunks of sediment in the bottom of the glass. Great head retention, excellent lacing. Nice.

T: Intense sourness followed by a huge caramel malt profile. Sour notes of lemon, crab apples, and lactic acid, definitely some funk in there too. The malt is an excellent darker crystal malt profile and appears slightly after the sour fades, quite sweet to balance out the sourness. Lastly there's just a slight little bit of spicy hops, very light but still detectable. Not much bitterness, but just enough. Fantastic.

D: Wow, this beer is hard to not drink. I feel guilty for not sharing this with anyone, but at the same time will have no problem drinking the whole 750. The thing I like about this beer is that the sour is incredibly noticeable, but doesn't dominate the beer, the malt shines and you can even notice a few hops, which makes this incredible. Highly recommended, and I'm extremely happy I bought a second bottle to lay down. Great work Squatters!

Smells like some dank tart cherries, some acid notes, a bit of grape-y/dusty vinousness, and some lighter ... sweet?? ... malted fruit.

Taste is similarly complex, with sour cherries and a bit of soured lemon rind combined with a sweeter plum/lighter fruit flavor. Damn, I thought this was a wild ale. Upon going on line, I see it is an oud bruin. Well, it's almost more flanders reddish with a sweet and sour vibe going on.

750ml caged and corked bottle purchased from the Salt Lake City brewpub. The cork was incredibly hard to get out, btw.

A- Watch out, gusher! Pours a clear copper/medium orange, fizzy off-white head with excellent retention, HIGH carbonation. Additional pours become more and more hazy.S- Not as aromatic as I was expecting. Mild fruit sourness but not much else. Some funk.T- I like this. Mildly sour/acidic with a strong citrus (lemon) zesty character to the finish. Some oak in there as well. M- Medium to light body, highly carbonated and prickly on the tongue. Nice. D- High. Nothing in this beer was overpowering, and it gained complexity as it warmed. Finishing the bottle was a pleasure.

Overall - After being a little let-down by the Root Cellar last night, the 529 was impressive. Not bracingly sour, this is more of a harmonious and balanced sourness. As mentioned above, the cork can be tricky, and mine was a (slow) gusher. Be ready with a glass.

Buckeyeboy brought this to a recent tasting... Footbalm was the Utah Pusher.. though I certainly need no coaxing on the new found Brewers' freedom from the Beehive State... Big props to Jeremy and Eric!!

Pours a slightly cloudy brown/amber... 1/2" tan head .. only hints and spots of lacing...

Nose shows a nice acetic fruitiness... sour cherries and bits of peach or apricot... pretty rich as some sweetness draws out misc maltiness...

flavor pretty much mirrors the nose yet is much more complex than my notes show... some oakiness shows as tannic elements and vanilla ... tannic apricot skin and sour cherry essence... lite balsamic presence.. pretty aggressive and still needs some time to meld.. all the funk is there, yet some bottle time will allow things to mesh and develop.

Good medium body gives the carbonation time to catch up.... good right now and will be excellent with time.... I appreciate the chance to try the 529 fresh and still have bottles for the future.... Appreciations galore to the fellas. Eric.. soooo... when are you coming back up to Boise???

Thanks again to StonedTrippin for sharing this treat with us. We cracked the cage and cork on a bottle labeled 11/12, pouring a golden tawny brew. It held a one and a half finger tall head of creamy eggshell colored bubbles, showing nice retention, and leaving spots of lacing and ridges around the glass. The head was easily reproducible with a swirl. Punctate sediment was noted through the cidery haze of clarity, with carbonation appearing moderate. The aroma gave an enchanting mix of oak and chicory warmth, smooth sourness and funk of Bretty yeast, amber and red malt base, and puckered fermented cherry. As the beer opened up, it became more complex with floral and citric hop bite and sweetness, along with sweetly toasted cornbread, and raw sunflower seeds. Our first impression was that this beer was no nonsense, and that the sweetness was done to just the right degree. As we sipped, you hit a solid wall of oak. You eventually break through with immediate funk and tart punch from the yeast, green apple acetaldehyde, vinegar acidity, and pale, caramel, and reddish malts. The middle came to a peak with full, juicy, Bretty yeastiness to pucker. This decimated the palate, finally allowing malty and lightly hopped sweetness to carry us to the finish, where the hops gave grass, nectars, and muddled citric sweetness, and a more raw caramel sugariness. The yeast did, however, stay on board, giving further intense juiciness to the back, while the stark wood countered. The aftertaste breathed of warm and toasty caramel, red, and paler malts, big oakiness, Bretty goodness, light coininess, black licorice, baker’s yeast, and the faintest smoky, meaty warmth. The body was medium, and the carbonation was medium. Each sip gave nicely soft slurp and sip, with great froth, cream, and pop on the back. The mouth was coated and oily, with eventual pucker of the yeast, and light dryness from the barreling. The abv was appropriate, and the beer sipped very well.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was its easiness and drinkability for the style. Starting from the aroma, from the very beginning things started out well blended. You get pretty much all the components at once, offering immediate complexity, depth, and warmth through all of the solid woodiness, sourness, and maltiness. I actually had to remind myself to take sips every now and again, in between having my nose constantly to the bottom of the glass. The flavoring followed beautifully, but was unique for the style in the sense of how clean it was. There was just enough residual dextrin sweetness to balance the immense pucker and bite of not only the yeast, but of the wood too, without tipping the scales in the overly malty direction. The soft slurp helped to ease some of this bitterness as well, making it undeniably palatable. This is a fantastic, well-blended beer, and we are so grateful to have gotten to drink it.

A - This one is a slow gusher - have a glass ready. Pours with a finger-plus of foam that settles to a thick ring and leaves spotty lacing. The body is an slightly hazed orange-brown color with some reddish highlights.

T - I like the taste a little better than the nose, but it doesn't quite warrant the bump to a 4.5 (docked appearance to offset). Definitely more sour than the nose, and gets increasingly sour as it warms up. Vinous notes, nice blend of cherries, fruits, and both acetic and lactic notes. Less oak than I expected for a beer aged 529 days. You can definitely perceive the young beer blended into this.

M - A little zestier and grittier than I prefer - you can definitely tell it was made with champagne yeast. Medium bodied, with a solid dry finish. Well-hidden 7.15%.

D - This was quite enjoyable. I refilled my glass and would definitely have this again. A pleasant surprise from Squatter's and competitive with other US Flanders Oud Bruins.

Smell: Tart cherry and black raspberry fruit, along with wood and vinegar elements

Taste: Cherry and black raspberry flavors up front, with a hint of caramel underneath; by mid-palate, there is an oaky character that builds, as does a significant tartness; with the swallow comes more sour flavor as well as a build-up of the woody elements

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: Another fine sour from the brewers at Squatters; there is a nice fruit and sour balance on this one

A: The pour is a dark orange color with some brown tint and a fluffy off-white head.

S: Not quite as big on the sourness as you might expect from a Flemish sour beer, but they're calling this an oud bruin, so perhaps that explains it. Some light lactic/lemon notes, cherries, lots of oak, and a bit of sweetness (notably, vanilla).

T: Again, not intensely sour, but pleasantly puckering. Tart cherries and drying, tannic wood (and wine) make up a big portion of the flavor. Very subdued vinegar notes, but overall, this could be more tart.

M: The body is medium with a fairly high level of carbonation. The beer is quite dry, which I like.

D: An overall good beer. Not astonishing, and I do wish it was more tart, but enjoyable and almost necessary on a day like Black Tuesday.